Durable golf tee

ABSTRACT

A golf tee is disclosed that is highly durable compared to wooden tees, is easy to find if struck during a golf swing, and has other attributes. It is in the form of a tube of somewhat smaller diameter than a golf ball and having the lower end provided with a spike or point similar to that of a wooden tee. It is primarily made of a tough elastomeric plastic such as moderately high durometer polyurethane. Preferably, it has provision for flotation, such as trapped air to prevent it from sinking if it should land in water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a golf tee that is easily molded, easy to use and designed to avoid damage or breakage.

The following features are of interest to golfers with respect to golf tees. This list is roughly ordered according to importance.

-   1. It should provide for easy, repeatable, constant tee height. -   2. It should be durable so that only one need be carried. -   3. It should fly less far and should be easy to find for worst cases     of tee flight. -   4. It should be easy to insert into the turf. -   5. It should be easy to carry. -   6. It should provide for making height adjustment. -   7. It should be easy to make so cost is low. -   8. It should not damage mowers to an extent significantly worse than     wooden tees.

Conventional wooden tees do not meet all of these desirable features, even though they have been widely used for many years. They require close attention to depth of insertion into the turf to achieve constant tee height. They are often hard to find after a hit. They are often broken and the pieces are left to clutter the teeing ground. These effects result in tees or parts of tees frequently being lost, left on the teeing ground, or nearby. In turn, this is not only unattractive, but can also damage the mowing machinery and necessitates carrying extra tees, which are inexpensive, but tend to be a bother when a tee is lost or broken. Breakage of the stem is very common, particularly with modern long wooden tees. Care is required to insert a wooden tee with its stem nearly vertical or the ball will fall off. An indication of golfers' concern and extent of the problem is evident in the very large number of patents for tees, reaching back to year 1900 or earlier.

Rules of the United States Golf Association require that the tee shall not have any features that could help in aiming the shot in the right direction. It is understood that this includes a lanyard since it could be laid out as a direction guide. These requirements are at odds with some tee designs. A tee is also limited to a maximum length of 4 inches.

PRIOR ART

The prior art is extensive. Pertinent U.S. patents include the following:

U.S. Pat. No. 648,956, W. Herrrick, shows a cone shape like the horn end of a trumpet. It includes a lanyard attached to the tee. The cone is made of rubber for durability. Large shape and minimum weight are suggested to provide large aerodynamic drag and minimize flight distance of the tee when it happens to be hit by the driver head.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,142,997, H. True, shows a frustum of a cone in the mathematical meaning, which is made of paper having been folded with many creases from bottom to top for stiffness. It is intended for single use.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,413,496, J. Sibbald, shows a flat base and a screw with vertical axis to accept the vertical part of the tee and to provide height adjustment.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,535,181, B Sawyer, shows a partial conical device of thin resilient material having an open side to facilitate collapse of tee when hit. It may have a convex, concave, or irregular surface shape (column 2, lines 39-44).

U.S. Pat. No. 1,599,310, W. Wiley, shows a metal frustum of a cone with portions cut out of the large end.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,604,390, C. Coker, shows a frustum of a cone made of paper wrapped numerous times around to provide ample strength.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,655, P. Young, shows a conical cup shape molded of rubber about 0.05 inch thick and having provision for easily cutting off the lower portion to provide for height adjustment.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,858,800, C. Boatman, shows a structure similar to the horn of a flute and having fuzzy or other surface to enhance aerodynamic drag to minimize flight distance after being hit.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,693,358, H. Dawson, shows a base portion, a frustum of a cone, and a top circular cylindrical shape, both parts made of corrugated cardboard, and with up-down adjustability of the top to the base portion.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,805,071, R. Kaplan, shows a shape much like the head of a rubber toilet plunger with thin walls and designed so as to have 2 stable positions, one fully extended and the other with a strong distortion of the rubber shell to shorten the tee height.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,676, F. Costa, shows a 2-part structure similar to '358 but made of resilient plastic with many openings in the lower conical part supposedly to increase air drag when the tee is hit.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,999, Voinovich, shows a rubber tube mounted on a threaded rigid spike that is screwed into the ground. It requires an insertion tool 40 and is suited for practice tees but much less so for playing the game. It requires two parts, the rigid spike and a soft upper tube. It does not have an optional provision for floating in water.

Other related U.S. patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,470,817 and 4,524,974.

D306,751, J. Orton, shows an “ornamental” adjustable golf tee somewhat like the above patents in configuration, but apparently having a top portion in the form of a conventional wooden tee that is adjustable in height by friction between the top portion and the base portion. Since there is essentially no verbal description, this adjustable structural feature is inferred.

D461,216S, W Luther, shows tees of varying height, generally similar to some of those above, and having a lanyard connecting all to a cylindrical body whose use is unclear.

A golfing toy shows a tee made of light-weight foam material and uses a foam ball. It was found on the internet to be commercially available. Also, for strong winds, the tee is subject to being moved.

Tee designs are commercially available that use bristles in various forms that project upward from a base having a conventional spike to be inserted in the turf. The bristles are sufficiently stiff and appropriately arranged to support a golf ball on top. Claims are made that such designs do not affect flight of the ball. In fact, maximum forces of impact of ball and club are in the range of 2500 pounds, so it is believed unlikely that forces on any tee design have a significant effect on flight of the ball.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiment disclosed herein has a tube above the ground that has a diameter less than the diameter of a golf ball, with an open upper end for supporting a golf ball. A lower end has a integral tip (herein called a “spike”) that can be inserted into the ground. The tube material as disclosed is any of various stiff materials that can be deformed when hit but which spring back to the original shape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of the disclosed tee with a golf ball indicated at 1.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the golf tee of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the golf tee of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentation sectional view of the golf tee of FIG. 1 to show optional prongs to support a golf ball.

FIG. 5 is a variation of FIG. 1 showing a conical tapered tubular shape for easier plastic molding.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

The material for the present golf tee can be any of various rather stiff elastomeric, plastic materials or of a suitable rubber-like material. The material choice is made on the basis that the tee can be severely deformed by a hit from a club head and yet will spring back very nearly to its original shape. Polyurethane of durometer 67 D is a preferred material. The durometer is not critical and may be substantially less stiff or more stiff. A range of stiffness of the elastomeric material of between 50 A and 75 D durometer (Shore scale) is workable. Durometer 50 A is like tire rubber and 75 D is like a construction worker's hard hat.

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing a ball 1 in dotted lines supported on a tee 10, forming one disclosed embodiment. The tee 10 comprises an elastomeric tube 3 with an open upper end of size to support ball 1, and with a lower closed end wall 6 having a conical outer surface. The lower closed end wall 6 has an integral spike 4 projecting downwardly. The spike 4 provides easy repetition of the insertion depth if the spike is always inserted until the cone surface of end wall 6 contacts the soil, thereby acting as a depth stop. The tube 3, tube end wall 6 and spike 4 can be molded as one piece.

The tube 3 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 may be tapered to be slightly conical as a frustum of a cone with the large end being toward the top where the ball is supported. The conical taper of the tube can be selected as desired and the tube will have a closed end as shown. One reason for such taper is to provide draft to make the part easier to mold. This taper is illustrated at 15 in FIG. 5.

Tube 3 may be provided with short, elastomeric projections 7 (herein called “prongs”) as shown in FIG. 4, as an option. The prongs are located at the top of tube 3 in four locations shown at 8 in FIG. 2 that is, the prongs are spaced 90° apart when four prongs are used. The number of such prongs could be three or greater. The function of the prongs is to minimize forces from the tee to the ball during impact. Such forces are so small that the optional prongs are mainly for the supposed significant forces for golfers who may be concerned. Such prongs 7 should be rather sturdy, if used. Otherwise they have a small disadvantage in that the tee could not be inserted into the turf by placing a ball on top of the tee and pressing on the ball. Instead, it would be necessary to grasp the tee below the prongs to provide the insertion force.

It was found that 0.75 inch diameter at the top of tube 3 (dimension D in FIG. 1) was satisfactory, but tube 3 may be as small as about 0.3 inch diameter or as large as about 1.5 inches. Wall thickness of the tube (dimension W) of 0.025 inch was also satisfactory for a 0.75 inch diameter tube, but a dimension as large as 0.20 inch or as small as 0.01 may also serve satisfactorily, depending in part on the stiffness of the elastomeric material that is used. The 0.01 inch thick walls, (the lower wall thickness) is associated with tubes in the lower diameter range and higher durometer range, and thick walls for larger diameters and lower durometer range. The tube may be slightly tapered or conical for molding purposes as noted above, or for other reasons.

Air drag when a tee flies through the air from a hit is a major factor regarding the distance it flies, and weight is important as well. A tubular, 4-inch long golf tee of this type with D=0.75 inch, W=0.025 inch, and L=4 inches weighed 3.21 grams. By comparison, a 4-inch conventional wooden tee has comparable weight if its stem is of large enough diameter to resist breaking for most club-head-tee impacts. The more bulky size for the present invention causes more air drag. Thus it flies less far when hit compared with wooden tees of similar length.

Some teeing grounds have water at the end of the teeing ground in the direction of the target. The density of polyurethane is about 7% greater than water, so the tee could sink, should it land in water. For this reason, a flotation chamber or other flotation means is desirable. It was found that a common, flexible, closed-cell plastic foam, such as polyethylene foam, is satisfactory in the form of a disc indicated at 5 on the interior of tube 3 in FIGS. 1 and 2. If the disc is somewhat oversize compared with the inside diameter of the tube 3, the disc 5 can be merely pressed gently into place. The disc thickness can be smaller than 0.1 inch to provide flotation, but about 0.2 inch or greater thickness is preferred.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tee 10, (dimension L) is about 4 inches long. The spike length T is 0.60 inches. The overall tee length is easily adjusted to be shorter length by cutting a length off the top end. With 67 D polyurethane, it is easy to manually squeeze the tube 3 flat and cut off the desired length with scissors.

It is preferred to add colorant to the polyurethane or other plastic such as bright yellow or white, to make it easier to find if it is hit and lands in deep grass. Its large size compared with conventional wooden tees is also a major factor in making it easy to find.

While the preferred form uses durometer 67 D polyurethane integrally molded as a unit, including the spike 4, and a polyethylene foam disc for floatation, any of various other materials could be used. In the preferred form, the tee is cast, injection molded, or reaction-injection-molded as a single part. The tube cross section need not be circular, but can be other suitable cross sections and as noted above the tube can be conical.

It is seen that this novel tee meets all of the eight enumerated desirable features listed above. 

1. (canceled)
 2. (canceled)
 3. (canceled)
 4. A golf tee comprising a tubular body, a closed end at one end of the body forming a stop wall, a spike of substantially smaller diameter than the tubular body extending from the closed end, the stop wall surrounding the spike, the spike having a length to support the tubular body in an upright position when the spike is inserted into turf and the stop wall is adjacent the ground, the golf tee being unitarily molded of an elastomeric material and the tubular body having a diameter less than a diameter of a golf ball, the elastomeric material having a flexibility permitting the tube to be flattened manually.
 5. The golf tee of claim 4 wherein the tubular body has an outer diameter at an open end opposite from the closed end of between 0.3 and 1.5 inches, and a wall thickness of between 0.20 inches and 0.01, inch with the 0.01 inch thickness being associated with a tubular body in the higher diameter range.
 6. The golf tee of claim 5 wherein the tubular body is tapered in cross section along its length, with the open end being larger in cross section than the closed end.
 7. The golf tee of claim 6 wherein said golf tee is made of a polyurethane material.
 8. The golf tee of claim 4 wherein said tubular body is made of a polyurethane material, and has a diameter of substantially 0.75 inches at an upper end, and a wall thickness of substantially 0.025 inches.
 9. The golf tee of claim 8 wherein said spike has a length of substantially 0.60 inches and the overall length of the golf tee is substantially 4 inches.
 10. The golf tee of claim 4 wherein said tubular body, said end wall and said spike are molded of a polyurethane material having a durometer ranging between 50A and 75D.
 11. (canceled)
 12. (canceled)
 13. The golf tee of claim 4 including a floating foam layer in an interior of the tubular body.
 14. The golf tee of claim 4 including a disc of foam press fitted into an interior bore of the tubular body of size to provide floatation for the golf tee. 